First and foremost, the graphics have improved a lot. Gone are the chunky, low-polygon-count players of Madden NFL 2000. This year's version claims to feature twice the polygon count, and it shows. The players are shaped well, and small touches like player uniforms becoming progressively muddier during a match, as well as the usual player names on jerseys and reasonably detailed faces, improve the look of the game further. Running at 1280x960 on my PIII 600 the game flows smoothly, although I've had to remove some of the less important graphic options such as side-line cheerleaders, substitutes and coaches. As all of these are the same ugly 2D sprites as previous years, this is no big loss.

Unfortunately, for every silver-lining there must be a dark cloud. The animations in Madden NFL 2001 are bad. Sure, the juke move, stiff arm and passing animations may all look pretty, but beautiful graphics are nothing without good implementation. All these moves lack control, and you cannot interrupt one move to start another. For example, if you are trying to fend off a couple of would-be tacklers with a stiff arm, you may well get turned around in the process through being bumped, while still fending. This means that you can't turn around until the animation is finished, which usually results in lost yardage. The spin animation is still a terribly slow and unrealistic process. Instead of making it more difficult for the defence to grab a hold of you and bring you down, the spin works as a side step that almost always sends side-on tacklers diving in front of you. While this may be cool for the casual fan who wants to win every game, I must emphasise that it detracts from the realism of the game, and deep down realism is what Madden is trying to achieve.

A big downfall last year was the interface, which many fans found frustrating and difficult to navigate. EA Sports have introduced a whole new interface this time around, and it seems to work without many hassles. One annoyance I've noticed is that you cannot alter settings such as difficulty or fine-tune the AI settings during a game. This was probably put in to deter those of us who have a tendency to lower the difficulty when losing, but it can be annoying when you genuinely feel that you're playing at a level that is too difficult, or if too many interceptions are being thrown and neither running back is making any yards. This can all be altered in the AI settings through the main menu, including a lot of other fine details, but it would have been nice to change these in-game so you could have it just the way you like it with minimum fuss.

The running game has also improved. The offensive line can actually open up some decent holes for you at the line of scrimmage, so you won't always be left running inside with no place to go. However, it's very rare that you'll achieve decent yardage. Most runs are only 2-3 yards, with the occasional 5-8 yard gain. Now, good NFL running backs average around 5 yards per rush, which isn't accurately represented in the game. You can simply increase the ability of the AI blockers, but that equates to the CPU team taking you apart when they're in possession. Overall, the running game has improved from previous years, but still has a way to go to achieve a truly enjoyable rushing experience.